[Volume

[SECTION] 2 = GEOGRAPHY (GLOBAL)
Across the globe, 104 of the qualifying countries/regions saw 4
Mbps broadband adoption levels increase year over year, compared
with 112 in the prior quarter. Growth rates ranged from a mere
0.3% in Israel to an incredible 1,585% in Kenya (to 64% adoption).
Indonesia again saw the second-largest annual increase at 672%
(to 66% adoption), while 21 additional countries/regions posted
4 Mbps adoption-rate gains of 100% or more. Barbados, with its
63% adoption rate, held steady compared with one year prior,
while 14 countries/regions saw adoption rates fall. Declines ranged
from 0.4% in Colombia (to 49% adoption) to 75% in Iraq (to 16%
adoption), although Iraq had a fairly small number of unique IPv4
addresses connecting to Akamai (just over the qualifying threshold)
and thus would likely experience larger percentage swings.
In the second quarter of 2016, Venezuela, Pakistan, and Algeria were
again the only three countries with 4 Mbps broadband adoption
rates below 5%. After enjoying large gains in the first quarter, each
of these countries saw sizeable quarterly declines in the second,
dropping 22%, 40%, and 47% to adoption levels of 3.4%, 2.9%, and
2.6% respectively.
2.4 Global 10 Mbps Broadband Adoption (IPv4) / In the
second quarter of 2016, 35% of unique IPv4 addresses globally
connected to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps, a 0.7%
quarter-over-quarter increase, as shown in Figure 9. Unlike the
previous quarter, where all of the top 10 countries/regions saw
increases in adoption, in the second quarter only 2 of the top 10
experienced gains. Both gains were small, with Iceland posting a
1.1% increase and Singapore posting a 3.2% gain. Though it suffered
a 5.3% decline compared with the previous quarter, South Korea
remained the world leader with an adoption rate of 79% — 12
percentage points higher than second-place Singapore. With a
14% quarterly gain, Iceland joined the top 10 in the second quarter,
pushing Denmark out. Only 6 of the top 10 countries/regions
enjoyed 10 Mbps adoption rates of at least 65%, down from all 10 in
the previous quarter.
Country/Region
% Above
10 Mbps
QoQ
Change
YoY
Change
– Global 35% 0.7% 34%
1 South Korea 79% -5.3% 7.1%
2 Singapore 67% 3.2% 34%
3 Iceland 66% 1.1% 86%
4 Hong Kong 66% -0.3% 6.3%
5 Switzerland 65% -5.0% 7.5%
6 Japan 65% -1.1% 8.4%
7 Belgium 64% -2.6% 37%
8 Norway 64% -1.7% 60%
9 Bulgaria 64% -3.1% 17%
10 Netherlands 63% -6.2% 8.4%
Figure 9: 10 Mbps Broadband Adoption (IPv4) by Country/Region
Seventy-nine countries/regions qualified for this metric, down
from 82 in the preceding quarter. Thirty-five countries posted
gains in adoption, with increases varying widely in magnitude,
from 0.4% in Slovenia (to 42% adoption) to 497% in Egypt (to 10%
adoption). Four countries in total saw adoption rates more than
double compared with the previous quarter, while an additional
17 posted double-digit gains. Among the 44 declining countries,
quarterly losses ranged from 0.1% in Estonia (to 40% adoption) to
39% in Georgia (to 17% adoption). Nine countries suffered doubledigit
losses.
Looking at year-over-year changes, there was a 34% increase globally
in the percentage of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai at
average speeds above 10 Mbps. Like the previous quarter, all of the
top 10 countries/regions enjoyed yearly growth in adoption rates in
the second quarter. These ranged from 6.3% in Hong Kong to 86% in
Iceland. Yearly changes were positive across the globe as well, with
the exception of Jamaica, where adoption rates stayed level with the
first quarter at 19%. Growth rates varied wildly, with Argentina’s
1.1% (to 7.6% adoption) being the smallest and Egypt’s 10,117% (to
10% adoption) being the largest. However, note that many of the
countries seeing outsized yearly gains — including Egypt, Kenya,
Morocco, and Saudi Arabia — did not qualify for inclusion in this
metric one year ago, as they had too few IPv4 addresses connecting
to Akamai at threshold speeds. Thus, the year-over-year percentage
changes here are based on prior-year numbers calculated from data
sets that were likely too small to be informative and could easily
result in disproportionately large percentage changes, although it is
still very likely that there was strong growth in 10 Mbps adoption in
these countries over the past year. In total, 29 qualifying countries
saw their adoption rates more than double compared with one year
prior, while an additional 40 posted double-digit gains.
With just 2.5% of its IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai at average
speeds of 10 Mbps or more, Morocco was the qualifying country
with the lowest 10 Mbps broadband adoption rate in the second
quarter, despite posting an 81% increase over the first quarter. Iran,
which held the bottom spot in the first quarter, did not qualify for
inclusion in the second. Thirteen countries in all had less than one
in ten IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai at average connection
speeds of 10 Mbps or more.
2.5 Global 15 Mbps Broadband Adoption (IPv4) / As Figure
10 shows, 21% of unique IPv4 addresses globally connected to
Akamai at average connection speeds of 15 Mbps or above in the
second quarter of 2016, down 0.8% from the first quarter. Unlike the
first quarter, when all of the top 10 countries/regions saw quarterover-quarter
gains, in the second quarter only Singapore and
Romania saw adoption growth, posting increases of 4.4% and 1.3%
respectively. The remaining eight countries’ declines ranged from
0.2% in Iceland to 10% in Sweden. Despite a 9.0% quarterly decrease,
South Korea remained solidly in the lead worldwide with a 15 Mbps
broadband adoption rate of 63%, 15 percentage points above secondplace
Norway.
14 / The State of the Internet / Q2 2016